By: LISA R. WILSON

Internet scams happen everyday, but one latest scam is targeting lawyers, specifically attorneys who handle debt collections.

This Internet scam starts with a solicitation, primarily through e-mail, from a seemingly legitimate foreign company looking for legal representation for their North American customer(s). Once an attorney agrees to take on such work, the foreign company lets the attorney know that the debtor in question has become aware that they have hired a U.S. collections attorney and has agreed to issue repayment. In a few days, the contracted attorney receives what appears to be a legitimate cashier’s check from a U.S. bank, and deposits the check into a trust account. When it appears the cashier’s check has cleared, the lawyer sends the debt amount (minus his processing fees) via wire transfer to the bank account supplied by the foreign company. Once this wire has been deposited, the scam is complete, and according to bank officials, nothing can be done to retrieve the money.

How this scam really works is that scammers know how to delay confirmation that the cashier’s check is fraudulent by changing the nine-digit MICR lines at the bottom of the check. And banks often make funds “available” to good customers; i.e. reputable law firms, before a check has cleared—even though technically, there is no money in the account yet. By the time it is discovered that the check is no good, the wire has usually been sent, and the lawyer is left empty-handed.

If you are an attorney who has been contacted by what looks like such a scam, report the incident immediately to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. For more information, click here.